1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a decorative floor covering and a method of applying it. The invention also relates to metal interlock acrylic finishes which are typically applied to floors.
2. General Discussion of the Background
Many commercial establishments, such as supermarkets, shopping centers, and department stores, have found that their products can be most effectively marketed by displaying numerous advertisements of products they sell. Some institutions also find it desirable to display directional aids in the form of arrows or color coded markings to provide directional assistance to their customers. Such advertisements, directional aids and other messages are typically displayed on signs attached to walls, ceilings, or shelves.
In spite of the excessive use of almost all available surfaces for displaying advertisements or directional aids, floors have not typically been used for this purpose. One of the reasons for such limited use of the floor is that customers' feet may become entangled in signs or tape which are placed on the floor. Another reason for this limited use is that the application of signs to a floor with adhesives often permanently mars the surface of the floor when the adhesive is removed. At best, signs attached with adhesive wear rapidly and must frequently be replaced, each time leaving a dirt-catching adhesive residue on the floor. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means of displaying indicia such as advertisements and directional aids on floors which will not entangle the feet of pedestrians, harm the surface of the floor, or leave an unsightly residue.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,781 of Krueckel discloses a method of applying multiple layered colored coatings onto metal, wood, plastic, or ceramic substrates. This method employs a polyester photopolymerizable resin (containing 25% acrylate) which is placed on the substrate. A decorative layer, containing an organic colorant such as an aniline dye mixed with an alkyd resin, is applied on top of the polyester photopolymerizable resin with a stencil. After the dyed layer has dried, a clear upper resin layer is then applied over the layer of dye as a protective finish. Such a method is not suitable for application to a floor since the resulting finish is designed to be quite permanent and requires heavy industrial solvents for removal that would seriously damage almost any floor. Another serious drawback to this method is that it employs an organic dye, which usually permanently colors any porous surface to which it is applied. Furthermore, the Krueckel resin requires ultraviolet radiation for curing. Such resins, which must be baked like car paint, are not suitable for application to floors.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,391,858 and 4,529,632 also both disclose permanent decorative coatings for automobiles which are unsuitable for removable application to a walking surface such as a floor.
Others have colored floors by adding organic dyes, such as aniline dyes, to carnauba-type floor waxes. These attempts have left the floors permanently tinted by the organic dye, and pigment migrates in soft waxes such as carnauba. Thus, such an approach is clearly an inadequate answer to the need for placing easily removable advertisements on a floor.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a method in which a decorative, easily removable floor covering can be applied to the surface of a floor.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a method in which colored indicia placed on the floor are completely removable without any residual coloring remaining on the floor or other porous surface to which the indicia are applied.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method for temporarily changing the color of a floor by tinting it.
Even yet another object of the invention is to provide such a method which can be readily adapted to existing methods of floor treatment.
Finally, it is an object of the invention to provide a method which allows merchants to effectively use floor space to market their products with advertisements.